Worth the Fight
by MelBelle033
Summary: After nearly killing a man, Tim has returned to Dillon for image control, per his manager and the NFL's say so. Julie's in the middle of a divorce when Tim enters her life. She wants nothing to do with him but as she continues to talk to him, she realizes they have a lot in common, like the fact that they both feel utterly broken. Inspired by "Show Me How to Live" by crazykelly101.
1. Chapter 1

Full Summary: Tim Riggins, Dallas Cowboys' star fullback, and resident bad boy, has gotten himself into some big trouble – again. Only this time, a public apology will not be enough to keep him from getting suspended from the team. In order to repair his reputation and maintain his position on the team, he'll have to return to his hometown of Dillon, Texas. There he runs into some familiar faces, including Julie Taylor's, and man has she gotten beautiful! Only problem? She could care less about the fullback's fame, nor his attempts to charm her. Tim's determined to win her over, though, come hell or high water because she's worth the fight.

Just a little background information . . . the ages of most of the characters will be very different than they were on the show. Also, **almost** the students from East Dillon and West Dillon in season 4 will be in high school in this story.

 **IMPORTANT!** This story is inspired by another story I read here on FanFiction called "Show Me How to Live," it's a One Tree Hill fanfic written by **crazykelly101**. Here is a link to her story (just copy and paste the link, but be sure to add in .net and a / after fanfiction, otherwise the link will not work - this is the only way I was able to put in the link) if any of you out there reading this story are a huge OTH fan, like myself, or just if you're interested in checking it out.

 **fanfiction s/12052081/1/Show-Me-How-to-Live**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Friday Night Lights, nor do I own any of it's characters, this story was written strictly for entertainment. No profits were gained.**

Worth the Fight

Chapter 1: Coming Home

" _Hey, Riggs, we're gonna head out, man." Brain "Smash" Williams, star running back for the Dallas Cowboys, announced. He, Tim Riggins, and a few other teammates decided to go out together and get a beer or something. Well . . . going out for "a beer or something" turned into getting hammered at the hottest new club in Dallas. Tim spent most of the night by the bar, a young blonde draped all over him, while the rest of the players took advantage of their status and claimed a booth in the VIP section. This is the first time Tim's seen any of his teammates since they all entered the bar together several hours ago._

" _Alright." Tim replied trying to focus on Smash's slightly blurred face and not on the women torturously kissing her way up his neck. Smash just laughed at Tim's drunkenness. He'd been where Riggs is right now, and he knew it was not a pretty place to be, especially come morning. That being said, as much a Tim drank, he never drank himself into a stupor like this; at least, he hasn't since high school. Smash felt like he should stay and make sure his notoriously reckless teammate didn't get himself into any trouble, but he told his girl he would be home an hour ago, plus Tim was a big boy; he would be fine._

" _Hey man, do whatever tonight, just don't drive home, alright?" Smash said, although it can out more like a plea._

" _Yeah man, I won't, don't even worry about it." Tim said turning his attention away from Smash and to the blonde that was so desperately seeking it. Smash nodded and started to walk away when he heard Tim slur out, "Oh, and tell Waverly I said hi."_

" _A'ight, will do man." Smash laughed and left the fullback be._

"Tim? Tim, are you even listening to me?" Tim's agent, Brad Newman, asked snapping his fingers in front of the fullback's face. Tim looked away from the window he'd been gazing out of since his agent started talking.

"Mhmm, yeah . . . yeah, I was listening." Tim said absentmindedly as he looked around the hospital room. He wasn't seriously injured, he had a concussion, some minor scrapes and bruises, one cut on his face that started above his right eyebrow and down to his temple that required stitches, and a dislocated shoulder, but other than that he was fine. And that's exactly what he told the doctors and nurses; that he was fine. The doctor insisted he stay a full twenty-four hours, however, much to Tim's dismay, to monitor his vitals.

"Alright, so you're on board then?" Brad asked. Being Tim's agent, he's had to pull Tim out of several fires, all involving his behavior, but this one takes the cake . . . and it's gonna take a hell of a lot more that a public apology to get Tim out of this mess.

"On board? With what?' Tim asked confused, this isn't usually how these conversations go; they usually end with Brad setting up a press conference and handing Tim a piece of paper with a speech he would need to memorize about how he was sorry for his behavior and how he would never do it again. Blah, Blah, Blah.

"The league is talking about suspension this Tim. They aren't playing around anymore. This isn't your usual "Cowboy's star fullback gets drunk and gets in a fight,' or "Tim Riggins gets drunk and was spotted with not one, not two, but three women." This is, "Tim Riggins almost killed a man." It's going to take more than an apology to get you out of this, and I have just the plan for you to show the public you're not the person they think you are." Brad said, he knew Tim would not be happy about this little plan, he just hoped the fullback didn't plan to take out his frustrations on his face.

"Alright, well, let's hear this plan of yours." Tim sighed.

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Tim wore his best suit as he stood in front of the crowd full of reporters and photographers. He hated things like this, which might be a surprise to some people seeing how many press conferences he's had to attend in the past eight years since he got drafted into the NFL his second year of college. Cameras flashed all around making it difficult to see all the people sitting below him, but Tim saw that as a good thing; if he couldn't see the crowd, he could just pretend they weren't there. He cleared his throat and wiped the sweat off his palms. Before he spoke, he took a quick look down at the paper on the podium containing his speech.

"I'd first like to start off by saying how incredibly sorry I am." Tim started, "The behavior I showed this past week was reckless, irresponsible, and unacceptable. I understand where the league is coming from in suspending me for the start of the season; I have taken full responsibility for my actions and I've accepted the punishment given." Tim continued on. He glanced over at Brad who gave him a thumbs up and a nod, encouraging him to continue. "Due to current circumstances, I will be returning to my hometown, where I will help assist the head coach of the high school football team with his players, I will also coach a PeeWee team, and volunteer and the local community center." Tim ended the speech and walked off the stage towards his agent. Brad shook his hand before walking up to the podium.

"Mr. Riggins, how long will your suspension last?"

"Have you heard anything about the other man involved in the accident?"

"Mr. Riggins, what are your plans for after the suspension?"

The reporters and cameramen went crazy, asking question after question, taking photo after photo. Tim felt like he could explode. Thankfully, Brad did what he does best, avoid and deflect.

"Thank you all for coming, we appreciate your time. Unfortunately, though, Tim has a flight to catch, so we will not have time for any questions." Brad announced as he walked off the stage with Tim following behind. Tim took a deep breath; he hadn't been home in nearly ten years. Sure, he still spoke to everyone now and then, but he hadn't stepped foot in the quaint little town for more than a few days, and even then that was just to visit the Taylor's with Jason, since he left for college all those years ago. But now, this was it, he was going home.

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"I still don't see why I couldn't just drive to Dillon from Dallas. It's like a six-hour drive." Tim spoke into the phone once he landed in Austin. He heard his agent sigh over the phone and instantly rolled his eyes. _Here we go_.

"I'm well aware of that Tim, but it needed to be done this way for the press. It's a win-win situation; they'll get a few pictures of you in the airport for their little tabloids and in exchange you'll be keeping your name in the media." Brad said as if all this were supposed to be obvious to Tim. It wasn't. He didn't care about the fucking press and their stupid ass tabloids, which usually consisted of a series of bullshit anyway. Brad being Brad, figured any type of press is good press, but Tim knew better, given his current situation the media would find a way to twist anything good into something horrible. He could save a kid from getting hit by a car and the press would probably say he shoved the kid into oncoming traffic in the first place. That's just what they did.

"Whatever you say, Brad." Tim sighed into the phone as he continued his trek towards baggage claim. He was seriously starting to wonder why he even hired an agent, manager, whatever the hell he was in the first place. Oh yeah, the league told him he needed to. He really hated being told what to do and here he was having his life dictated by some prick that only cares about getting his paycheck each month. Tim understood this was all just "damage control" and all that other bullshit, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He hadn't been back to Dillon in almost ten years and, truthfully, he wasn't looking forward to the idea of being back, but if going back for a few months meant staying in the NFL then he would just have to put his issues aside and get this shit over with.

"And be sure to post on Instagram or Snapchat, or better yet, both at least once a week. I know you hate all that stuff, but it'll show your fans and everyone else that you're actually doing what you said you would be. Be sure to keep it positive, no posts of you drinking or hanging around a bunch of women. Post stuff of you coaching or you with your family, the press eats that type of shit up." Brad added when Tim hadn't spoken for a while. Tim once again rolled his eyes, he would post to Instagram and Snapchat because he knew Brad would call him if he didn't, but there was no way in hell he would post anything with his family in it, unless, of course, they gave him permission to do so; he respected their privacy too much to do anything like that.

"Alright you got it, Brad. Oh, I see my luggage, I gotta go." Tim lied and hung up the phone before Brad could say anything. He reached his gate's baggage claim area a short while after he hung up the phone; he waited until he saw his bag, smiling towards the cameras annoyingly flashing in his direction and signing autographs or taking selfies with fans that approached him. Finally, he got his bags and made his way towards exit, he decided to rent a truck, despite Billy and Mindy insisting that they would pick him up. He told them he had to make a few stops first and he didn't want to be a bother to them, but truth be told, he just didn't want to endure what he knew would be a two-hour car ride filled almost entirely with awkward small talk.

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Tim pulled over into the grass when he saw the _Welcome to Dillon_ sign come into view. He got out of the Dodge Ram 2500 truck that he rented; he still had his old 1986 Silverado from high school sitting at Billy's, but he wasn't sure could will himself to drive her. She held too many memories of the past; more bad than good, unfortunately. He exhaled a long, slightly shaky breath. This was a bad idea; he shouldn't have come back. This wasn't his home anymore. He didn't belong here. Not anymore, anyway. He sighed and pulled out his phone, Brad wanted pictures? Well then he would give them. He took a picture of the welcome sign making sure that the _2006 State Champion_ part was easily readable. He started to write a caption for the picture when his phone started ringing and an all too familiar number popped up on the screen. He smirked as he answered the phone.

"Six, how ya doing man?" Tim asked simply, as though this were a regular occurrence for him. It wasn't. Sure he and Jason still talked every once in a while, but those talks were few and far between these days. He heard a chuckle on the other end of the line and couldn't help the small smile that started to spread across his face.

"I'm doin' good, Riggs. But I gotta ask you something." Jason started, his tone joking and light. "Why is it that I have I have to hear the school board and my wife that my best friend is coming back to town before I even hear it from said best friend?" He continued to joke. If this were anyone other than Six, Tim might've actually thought he was hurt by the fact that he hadn't told him, but he knew Jason didn't take things like that too personally.

"Sorry about that. It all happened kinda unexpectedly." Tim said with a heavy sigh, he was about to tell Jason all about what happened, well what he could remember anyway, when a thought hit him. "Wait, what do you mean the school board told you? You're working at the high school now?" Tim asked. The last time he had spoken to Jason he was a family lawyer living in Austin, now he was a teacher?

"Yeah, I'm head coach for the Panthers now." Jason said. "I also opened up my own little firm here in Dillon, it's just me so I stay pretty busy." He added.

Tim's head was spinning. Jason was the head coach for the Panthers? What happened to Coach Taylor? Tim thought he would never leave that job, not until he was on his deathbed anyway. "What happened to your dad?" Tim asked curiously. He heard Jason exhale deeply. Oh no, this wasn't good, was it?

"He had a heart attack about five years back, the doctors told him not to do anything too stress inducing and he was told he had to temporarily leave the team. He came back as head coach the next season and stayed on for another couple of years, but then he got sick." Jason said a little chocked up. Tim immediately suspected the worst. "We found out he had pancreatic cancer. Thankfully, they found out early, before it spread to the lymph nodes, and they were able to treat it." Jason continued. Tim let a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. They treated it. That meant Coach was okay then, right?

"He retired after that. He and mom moved to Austin when it all happened so that way they could be close to a good hospital and because, at the time that was where both Julie and I were; I was working at a firm there and Julie was still finishing up her degree. They wanted to be closer to their kids, just in case." Jason said shakily, but he continued on. "Once he was finished treatment he and my mom decided they wanted to move back to Dillon. I realized I didn't like only seeing them every few months once they moved back so I talked with Tyra and we agreed it was time for a change, so we moved back home. The kids love it; being in a small town." Jason spoke, a bit more happily now. But Tim needed to know more. Coach was okay now, right? And what about Mrs. Taylor, was she alright? How had Jules been doing?

"He's okay now? Coach?" Tim asked.

"Been cancer free for almost two years now." Jason said happily. "All the doctors seemed amazed because I guess it's a pretty rare thing in people with pancreatic cancer, but they don't know my dad. He's one stubborn old bastard; he won't be going anywhere until he's damn well ready, that's what he keeps telling me, anyway." Jason laughed. Tim did too, it was just so _Coach_.

"And everyone else?" Tim asked. He heard Jason talking to someone in the background, most likely Tyra. He couldn't really hear any of the words, but every now and then he would get bits and pieces, he heard something about dinner and pork chops, then he heard Tyra say something along the lines of "just ask the freaking man."

"There's a lot of stuff to go over if you want to hear about everyone. Why don't you come over for dinner? I'll catch you up on everything you've missed." Jason said. "Plus, I know Noah would love to finally meet you, he still doesn't believe me when I tell him that mommy and daddy actually know Tim Riggins, even when we show him pictures. He loves you." Jason added with a chuckle. Tim didn't know how he felt about that, he didn't really like the idea of little kids looking up to him. He wasn't a good influence for anyone, let alone little kids, but Tim found himself agreeing to come for dinner anyway.

"Great, dinner's served a five-thirty. Come by around four any we can go over some game types and get you familiarized with the team."

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Tim drove past his old home on the way to Six's, the one he and Billy grew up in. It looked the same, only the grass had grown out due to lack of maintenance and the house and driveway were in serious need of some pressure washing. He wasn't surprised to see it had been abandoned, his dad probably left as soon as Tim graduated high school and he knew Billy would never want to step foot into the place again. When Billy graduated high school he moved to Grand Prairie to go to Lincoln Tech, an automotive school. He could've easily gone to a school in Austin, but Billy wanted to be further away from home than that.

Tim knew Billy and Walt didn't get along, hell, nobody got along with Walt. Walt was abusive both physically and verbally to Billy and Tim. He would always remind Billy that he would never be as good a football player as he was in his day, and he'd never let Tim forget that he was just an unwanted mistake. Walt was a decent father to Billy, then came Tim. He and Beth, Billy and Tim's mother, didn't want another kid, they weren't able to support another child, financially or emotionally. Tim's mom left when Tim was just two. He didn't have any memories of her, he didn't even know what she looked like, as any pictures of her had been removed almost immediately after she left. Tim knew Walt blamed him for Beth leaving, he'd told him as much on several occasions, and even though Billy would never admit it, Tim knew he felt the same way too. Once Beth left, Walt became distance from his children, he was gone most of the night, and when he would finally stumble in at the most ungodly of hours, you could smell the alcohol on his breath from a mile away.

Billy, who was only fourteen at the time, was forced to take on a guardianship role when Tim was three. He started off juggling everything pretty well, but halfway into his sophomore year, he couldn't keep up with everything, school, football, taking care of Tim, making sure their father didn't drink himself to death. During his junior year, however, things started to look up, he began dating a girl. A girl whose dad just so happened to be a big deal in the booster club world. He and the rest of the booster club members found out about the Riggins' home life and began to help out, a little cash here and there, just enough to make sure Billy didn't need to leave the team. He managed to graduate despite everyone's beliefs that he wouldn't, and he even managed to get a championship ring his senior year of high school. Not that that was enough for Walt though. "So, who cares? Come talk to me when you've earned another." He would say. Billy left the second he got that diploma. He told Tim he loved him, but that he couldn't bear to put up with Walt any longer. Tim was seven when he left.

Walt, no longer having Billy to belittle went in on Tim, reminding him every single day that he was a mistake, that he was worthless, stupid, that he would never amount to anything in life. Yet, that year Billy left he took him to join PeeWee football. A he was good. There he met Jason Taylor, the two surprisingly became the best of friends after Tim gave the poor kid a bloody nose on the first day. Tim couldn't have been more ecstatic. He and Jason would hang out all the time. At school, football practice, and sometimes Walt would even let Tim go to the Taylor's house on the weekends.

Eric and Tami knew, something wasn't right with the Riggins' family. They tried to reach out to Tim several times about his father, but he would always refuse to speak, afraid of what would happen if he told. Would he be sent away? That was what Billy always told him. Tim got older, and the Taylor's would continue to prod, but Tim didn't care, they were never anything but kind to him, they fed him, gave him a place to sleep if he ever needed to get away from home, and more importantly, they showed him love, something he never saw from his "real" family. He became a second son to them, and he had finally found his place. Billy moved back to Dillon when Tim was a junior, he opened his own shop Riggins Rigs. He tried to get in touch with Tim a few times, but Tim always shut him down; eventually Billy just gave up. The Taylor's were there when he graduated high school – granted Jason had been graduating too, but that didn't change the fact that they cheered just as loudly for Tim as they did Jason when he got his diploma; they were there when he got drafted into the NFL, not Walt or Billy. As far as Tim was concerned the Taylor's were his family, no one else mattered. Granted, Billy had tried to get in touch with Tim, but it was only after he heard from Mindy, who heard from Tyra, that Tim was going to the NFL.

Tim signed as he drove away from the house that held so many bad memories and drove towards the people that reminded him that despite the bad, there were always good people around that still cared about him simply for being him, not for being Tim Riggins, Dallas Cowboys' star fullback.

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Tim knocked on the door to Jason and Tyra's home. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous, he hadn't seen Jason since the Cowboys made it to the super bowl two years ago, and he hadn't seen Tyra since their son, Noah, was born. That was nearly six years ago. Sure, Tim and Jason still spoke on the phone every once in a while, enough to know what was going on in his life, enough to know that they have another kid, a one-year-old daughter named Kinley, and enough to know that Noah was as football obsessed as his daddy and grandpa. Granted, it's been much longer than a month since Tim had last spoken to his friend. The last time he spoke with Jason, Tyra had just had Kinley and they were still living in Austin, Jason hadn't even told Tim about what happen with Coach getting sick, although, that was probably just because it was hard for him to talk about. Tyra answered the door, breaking Tim out of his thoughts. She smiled brightly at him, showing off a slight dimple on the left side of her face. Her eyes as bright and mischievous as ever.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." Tyra said in that low drawl of hers. Tim just smirked at her. She was as beautiful as the last time he saw her. He swore she never aged, she was only twenty-eight, but to him she looked as youthful as she had in high school.

"You look great, T." Tim said as Tyra ushered him into the house. It was a nice house, two stories, big backyard from what he could tell by looking out the patio door.

"Awe, well aren't you sweet." Tyra said with a playful eye roll. Tim was always a charmer, apparently that much hadn't changed over the years. He looked the same too, still had is long, just above the shoulders hair, although now his face was sporting a little stubble. He filled out some too, Tyra always remember Tim being a little on the lean side; now he looked to be about two hundred twenty pounds of solid muscle, a pretty drastic change to the one-eighty he weighed in high school. He even seemed taller, if that was possible, standing at about 6'3" he was almost a head taller than Tyra at her above average 5'11" (think Chris Hemsworth in _Thor_ if you want a visual on the body type). "Jason's outside playing catch with Noah if you want to say hi." Tyra said, nodding her head in the direction of the backyard.

"Alright, thanks." Tim said as he headed that way. He opened the sliding door that led out to the backyard, before he even had a chance to step foot into the backyard, Noah ran up to him a look of shock and excitement on his face.

"You're Tim Riggins! So mommy and daddy were telling the truth? They really do know you?" Noah asked his excitement growing the more he looked at the fullback.

"Yeah, it's true." Tim said with a small smile, he couldn't help it this kid was adorable. He was the spitting image of Jason only with the Collette's blonde hair. He had the brightest blue eyes so full of wonder and innocence. What Tim wouldn't do to go back to that age and make things different. "Your dad and I have known each other since we were kids, and we met your mom in middle school." Tim said looking down at Noah who had a smile so big, Tim was worried the kid's face might split.

"That's so awesome!" Noah exclaimed excitedly. The boy ran over to Jason, practically snatching the football out of his dad's hands before returning back to Tim. "Will you sign my ball? Daddy and mommy said I could join the PeeWee team this year, it would be really cool if I could show all my friends that you signed my ball since you will be our coach." He continued, handing the ball to Tim when he extended his hand to take it. "I'll go get a marker." Noah said before running inside, leaving Tim and Jason outside to chat.

"You look good." Jason observed. He walked up to Tim and hugged him, and not one of those "man hugs" guys do so they don't look like a pansy, but a real genuine hug because he hadn't seen his friend is years and he missed the idiot. "How ya been, man?" Jason asked once he ended the hug.

"I've been better." Tim said with a slight sigh.

"Shit, I'm sorry, that was a stupid question, given everything going on?" Jason said shaking his head almost like he couldn't believe he even asked. "Well, despite the circumstances, it's really good to have you back home." Jason said with a smile. Tim smirked, but it wasn't his usual smirk, he was covering up his emotions, typical Tim.

"Yeah, it's good to be back." Tim said, but he knew by the look on Jason's face that he didn't believe a word coming out of the fullback's mouth. He knew Tim is less than happy to be back home, he knew what memories this town held for him, but that didn't change that fact that Jason was happy to see his best friend again and vice versa.

"You're a horrible liar, Tim, always have been, always will be." Jason said with a chuckle, hoping to defuse the somewhat awkward situation. Tim chuckled too because he knew it was true. He became a better liar once he joined the NFL, a good enough one to fool the media from time to time, but these people here, his family, they knew him too well. "You know, Noah's really excited to have you as his PeeWee coach." Jason said, changing the subject to something more light-hearted.

"Ha, yeah, I could tell." Tim said with a chuckle. "I bet you two have your hands full with that one. He's got a lot of energy. He'd make a great running back one day." Tim said, and he meant it because, have you met Smash? That man is always on the move, brain and mouth running a mile a minute every second of every day; much like Noah, at least that's the impression Tim got from the boy.

"Yeah, he's definitely a handful, but don't mention the running back thing; he wants to be a fullback like his uncle Timmy, but I'm still holding out hope he'll follow in my footsteps and tryout for quarterback." Jason said with a laugh. Tim froze at the mention of "uncle Timmy," but surprisingly, it didn't bother him to hear, he wasn't expecting it, but he liked the idea of Jason and Tyra's kids thinking of him as family because he always thought of their parents as family, it only made since that he'd think of their kids the same way. That, and he was an uncle anyway, Billy and Mindy had three kids; a son, Stevie, who was nine now, and a daughter and son, twins, Hadley and Luke, who were five.

"I found a marker!" Noah said as he ran out of the house, nearly crashing into Tim and Jason he was running so fast. Tim sent Jason a pointed look, almost as if to say, "told you, this kid's a running back," Noah was oblivious to the looks being exchanged between his father and the fullback as he handed Tim the Sharpie and watched in awe as Tim signed the football. Tim handed Noah the autographed ball with a smile. "Thank you so much!" Noah said happily as he wrapped his little arms around Tim's legs.

"No problem." Tim said with a laugh as he patted Noah's shoulder, unable to do much else from his position. "You ready to play a game of catch before your mom calls us all in for dinner?" Tim asked when the little boy broke the hug.

"Yeah!"

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Once everyone had finished dinner, Tim and Jason found themselves in the living room watching game tapes from last season. Tyra sat between Jason and Tim on the sofa as she read a book, ignoring the football talk going on around her. Jason and Tim were talking about the first-string quarterback, Vince Howard, a junior, when the phone rang. Both Jason and Tim turned their head to look at Tyra. She laughed.

"Sure, I'll get it." She said with an eye roll, giving the two men a playful swat on the chest before getting up to answer the phone.

"Vince has got a great arm and he's fast too, so is your running back, Luke?" Tim asked questioningly, Jason nodded, confirming that he was correct on the name. "But you can tell the two aren't really working together." Tim said as he watched Luke attempt to get Vince to throw him the ball, but Vince decided to run it instead.

"Yeah, there's a little "battle of the egos" going on there. It's been brought up a few times, but I can never seem to get the two to work together for more than a couple games." Jason said, clearly disappointed. The situation reminded Tim of his own relationship with Smash back in high school, only their issues were more off the field than on.

"Well, we'll have to work on that. What about that one?" Tim asked pointing at one of the players. "What's his name?"

"That's Buddy Jr." Jason said. Tim looked at him baffled.

"No fucking way really?" Tim laughed, a full bellied laugh. "What's that like?" Tim asked once he got his laughter under control.

"It can be a little awkward especially when Mr. Garrity decides to make an appearance at practices to "check in" but he's a pretty good player, he just needs to work on his control." Jason said.

Tim was amazed at how casually he approached the situation. Back when he and Jason were seniors and Jason told Lyla he wanted to go to UT Austin instead of Notre Dame, she was more than pissed, she went on saying he was only picking UT Austin because it was the best place Tim could get accepted to on scholarship. Jason tried to tell her that wasn't true, although he was excited to continue to play ball on the same team as his best friend, that wasn't the only reason; he also wanted to stay close to his parents and his sister. Julie was just starting high school when he and Tim went to college, and he knew she didn't really fit in . . . at first, anyway. Halfway into her freshman year, she started hanging out with QB1 J.D. McCoy, much to her dad, and Jason's, dismay. The two lasted together, though, they were Dillon High's power couple, just like Jason and Lyla had been when they were in high school . . . but we all know that relationship didn't last. Julie and J.D.'s did, however, and eventually he became a part of the family. The two married when Julie was just nineteen, and J.D twenty, it was safe to say Eric and Tami were not happy about the idea, but they chose to support their daughter anyway, seeing as she and J.D had already been together for four years; they were practically married as it was, might as well make it official.

"Well, I gotta say you're handing the whole Garrity thing a lot better than I ever could." Tim said, breaking himself out of his thoughts. Just then, Tyra walked in.

"That was Julie," She started. Jason paused the type then to look up at his wife. "She got the papers today." Tyra continued. Jason sighed, he knew Julie and J.D. had been having some issues lately, for the past year or so now, but he really thought they would work it out, when she mentioned the possibility of the two getting a divorce, he thought it was just coming from a place of anger. He didn't even know a divorce was in the process, Julie had been avoiding him for months now, which was getting increasingly difficult for her now that school started back up and she teaches most of his players.

"I think I'm gonna head over to her place, make sure she's doing alright." Tyra said.

"You want me to come with you?" Jason asked as Tyra threw on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed her purse.

"No, that's okay, you and Tim stay here, I'll tell you how she's doing when I get back." Tyra said walking over to her husband and giving him a kiss and giving Tim a brief hug, telling him how nice it was to see him again, before saying goodbye.

"What was that all about?" Tim asked curiously once Tyra had left the house.

"Julie and J.D are getting a divorce." Jason started, "I knew they were having issues, J.D. was traveling a lot for work, they would fight about it, usually behind closed door. But the more it went on, the more they argued, eventually they starting to fight about it in public. Last I heard from Julie, they were trying to work things out. Then a couple months ago, I ran into J.D. at the supermarket and he told me Julie had moved out of the house, I tried to talk to her about it, but she kept shutting me out." Jason sighed, he hated not being able to talk to his sister, especially at a time like this. He was her big brother, it's his job to protect her, to make her laugh when she wants to cry, to beat up J.D. for breaking his baby sister's heart. But, how could he do that when he didn't even know what happened between them. Not even Tyra knew, Jason had asked her about a hundred times, knowing she's been talking to Julie a lot more than he has. Maybe Julie would finally tell him what happened now that they were officially separating, or maybe she would at least tell Tyra so she could tell him.

"That sucks, they always seemed so happy." Tim said as he remembered all the times he'd seen the couple back when he was in college; they were always laughing and smiling, and just, happy. Maybe it was just young love? Or maybe it was never really love at all, but simply lust? Tim had never been in love so he had no way of knowing the difference. All he knew was that Julie must be heartbroken right now. He also knew that he felt the sudden urge to knock McCoy's teeth out of his skull.

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So that's the first chapter, as I'm sure you all noticed, it was mainly from Tim's point of view. I just wanted you guys to get a little bit of a backstory into his life, both present and past. I know there is probably a lot of confusion as to the pairings and how they happened, don't worry all that will be explained throughout the story in varies ways (most likely through flashbacks). I'll also be giving you guys more details as to why Tim returned to Dillon in the first place, it'll take a while to get the full story, as Tim doesn't even fully remember what happened, but you'll see it come back to him in bits and pieces. Next chapter you'll get more backstory on Julie and her relationship with J.D. you'll also get to see her first interaction with Tim in over six years . . . I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, be sure to let me know your thoughts, as well as anything you'd like to see in upcoming chapters in a review or PM. And please be patient while I work through this story and Unexpected Changes (which I have not forgotten about, I'm about halfway through ch.6) as I have been extremely busy with school lately this month is going to be especially hectic. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading the first chapter of Worth the Fight and don't for get to Review, Follow, and Favorite.


	2. Chapter 2

Worth the Fight

Chapter 2: Starting New

" _Julie, you can't be serious." JD said as he watched Julie stuff clothes into various suitcases. "Can't we just sit down and talk about this?" He pleaded, grabbing her arm to stop her from packing. Julie ripped her arm out of his grasp, though. She didn't want him to touch her ever again because, now, the only thing she felt when she looked at him was disgust._

" _No we can't, JD. I don't want to talk about this, I want to finish packing my shit and I want to get the hell out of this house." Julie said as she continued her earlier task of throwing clothes into her suitcase, refusing to even look at her liar of a husband. He was supposed to be out of town today, that had been the whole reason she'd decided to come to the house today to get her things. Apparently, now that his little affairs were out in the open he didn't feel the need to stick to his usual schedule because he had nothing to hide from Julie anymore. She felt sick just thinking about it . . . about him._

" _Come on, Julie, you're being ridiculous. We can work this out. Just stop and talk to me!" JD whined. He was seriously starting to piss Julie off. First he says she's being ridiculous, then he's asking her to talk to him? That's the last way you get a woman to talk to you. Honestly, if he treated all women the way he treated his wife, then Julie had no clue how he had ever managed to cheat on her in the first place. She guessed it was true . . . that women today really do like their men to be assholes. "Jules!" JD yelled slamming the dresser drawer closed before Julie could take the last of her clothes out._

" _Fine, you want to talk? Let's talk. You were the one that asked me to marry you five years ago, not the other way around, so it's not like anyone forced you into this marriage. When we stood up at our wedding and swore to each other, in front of all our friends and family, to love each other for the rest of our lives, I meant every word. It seems quite clear that you didn't, and the fact that you thought you wouldn't get caught would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that this has been going on for months. I don't want to talk to you because I can't even stand to look at you right now. You make me sick! And you want me to just act like nothing's wrong and forgive you?" Julie said with a shake of her head. She just wanted to pack her stuff and leave; she didn't want to deal with a confrontation today. "Well, I can't, so if your plan was to try and make everything better, then you're wasting your time. I moving out and I want a divorce."_

" _Julie, please don't do this, we can work it out. I do still love you . . . I was just caught up in the fantasy." JD said. "Come on, what can I do to make you realize that. Please just stay. We can go see a marriage counselor if that's what it takes. I love you, Julie. How could you just be so willing to end a nine-year relationship just like that?" He asked. Julie sighed, deciding she had enough stuff packed already. She'd just have to get the other stuff later, when she was absolutely positive JD would be out of town._

" _It's too late for all of that." She said zipping up the two suitcases she'd managed to get packed, she walked them down the stairs and to the front door, JD following closely behind her every step of the way. It wasn't until she had the suitcases loaded in her car that she finally spoke up again. "And the why I see it, you were the one so "willing" to end our relationship when you slept with another woman." And with that she got in her car and drove away, wishing that could be the last time she ever had to speak to the man she once loved, but knowing it wouldn't be._

A few months later . . .

Julie couldn't believe it; that today of all days the divorce papers came in. What had started off as an already shitty day when her car died on her, turned even shittier when she got chewed out by the owner of the local youth center for being ten minutes late for an art class she teaches – because her car died, she tried to tell him – she spilled over on her favorite shirt, and today marked the day she and JD would have had their first date nearly nine years ago. Julie sighed as she poured a very large glass of wine and opened the manila envelope containing the papers that will officially end her broken marriage.

"Here we go." She said aloud as she pulled the papers out and scanned through them to make sure everything in the papers were the same as all the things they had discussed with their lawyers. It was, almost everything would be split down the middle, JD wanted to keep the house and the furniture inside. Julie was fine with that, she never wanted to step foot into the place after what she saw anyway. She got the fine china her family gave to her and JD as a wedding present and all the artwork in the house, seeing as she picked out the majority of it anyway. She scanned through the list of paintings to make sure they were all there and frowned upon seeing one missing. An impressionist painting of a ballerina, it had the most beautiful shades of orange, bronze, blues, and yellows surrounding the dancer as she wrapped the ribbons of her pointe shoes around her ankles. It was Julie's favorite piece out of her small collection because of its simplistic beauty, that, and it reminded her of her own dancing days. Julie went over the list of all the paintings again, more carefully this time, in hopes that she'd just missed it the first time. She didn't see it. Julie let out an angry breath as she dialed a number into her phone.

"Hello?" The person on the other end answered.

"Why isn't the ballerina impressionist painting on the list of pieces I was supposed to get in the divorce agreement." Julie asked, taking a large sip of her wine as she waited for a response from her soon to be ex-husband.

"Julie?" JD said questioningly into the phone. Julie rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Seriously, JD, who the hell else would be calling you about a divorce agreement? Do you have another wife out there I should know about?" Julie asked with another eye roll because, honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if he did, if it weren't for the fact that it's totally illegal.

"What? No . . . It's just I-I wasn't expecting you to call." JD said. Julie could hear another person in the background. It sounded like a woman. Once again, Julie wouldn't be surprised if that were to be true. That was, after all, part of the reason they were getting a divorce after almost five years of marriage and four years of dating before that. JD sure did like his women.

"Yeah, well, trust me, calling you is the last thing I wanted to be doing today," Julie said her voice betraying her as she was sure JD, or anyone listening, could hear the anger and hurt. "Just, answer the question, please. Don't drag this out for any longer than it needs to be. Why isn't the impressionist painting of the ballerina in the list of things I was entitled to." She heard JD scoff over the phone and help her breath, that was never a good sign.

"Well, the more I thought about it, the more I decided I liked that painting. Plus, we bought it together in New York while I was on a business trip that you insisted on coming to." JD said angrily. Julie didn't understand why he was angry, he was the one that cheated on her . . . multiple times . . . with multiple women. Where did he get off thinking he could act like the victim in this situation?

"Are you fucking serious right now JD?" Julie practically screamed, she was so annoyed that she wanted to drive over to his house and smack him silly. "You told me I should go on that trip because you said there were great museums and boutiques I could check out. That was about a year ago, though, around the time you started cheating on me with your little bimbos – if I remember correctly – so I can see how you might have confused me with one of them." Julie retorted.

"Why are you being such a bitch right now, Julie? It's just a fucking painting." JD spoke into the phone, his breathing labored, a sure sign he was trying to hold back his anger, Julie had been with him long enough to know that that was one of his biggest tells. "Get the fuck over it." He yelled into the phone.

"No!" Julie yelled back, then quickly took a deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "JD, you got the house and all the furniture in it, you get to keep all our wedding china, aside from the stuff my family gave us. You get to keep that fancy car you love so much, and you get to keep half the money in our joint account, despite the fact that the majority of it is my savings from over the years because you don't know how to manage your damn money . . . I guess that's one of the downsides of growing up rich." Julie said with a cold laugh. "The least you could do is give me the painting, you don't even like it." She said in an almost pleading voice, just wanting to be done with this, done with him.

"You know what, Julie, I think I'm just gonna hang on to this painting," JD said in that annoyingly condescending voice of his. Gone was his earlier anger and in its place, JD's truest form emerged, rude, childish, colossally condescending douchebag. Julie'd had enough, she wasn't going to sit here and continue to argue with him all night, she wouldn't give him that satisfaction. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve anything from her, not anymore.

"Fine, have it your way for now, but just know I'm not signing these papers until that painting is included in my possessions. You'll be hearing from my lawyer within a few days." Julie said, ending the conversation by hanging up the phone. She sighed in frustration, downed the rest of her wine, and picked up the phone again.

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Julie left her spot on the couch when she heard a knock on her door. She opened the door to see Tyra on the other side holding up two very large bottles of wine and some movies.

"Alright, I brought wine and movies where the girl dumps loser boy for sexy man." Tyra said causing Julie to laugh for the first time in who knows how long. Julie held up her now empty wine glass as she let Tyra into her small apartment. The place was kind of a dump, her landlord was a jerk, and she'd been stuck taking cold showers for the last three days because he claimed he was "too busy" to fix it, but Julie just kept reminding herself it was only temporary, just until she found a place she liked enough to sign a long-term lease on. There were few places in Dillon that did month-to-moth leases like this place, and, unfortunately, some of the others are a bit out of her teacher's salary price range.

"I'm already about half a bottle ahead of you." She said as she went into the kitchen to grab a corkscrew and another wine glass for Tyra.

"Well, that's alright . . . I catch up quick." Tyra said with a small laugh as she poured two glasses of wine, handing one to Julie as she took a sip of her own. Tyra watched as Julie swirled the wine around in her glass, clearly lost in her thoughts. She sipped her wine again when Julie finally looked up, pretending as though she weren't just studying the younger woman sitting in front of her.

"So, I spoke with JD today, first time in months that we've spoken that hasn't been through our lawyers." Julie said with a sigh, finally ready to open up to someone about everything that happened with JD. She knew she had been keeping her friends and family in the dark about what's been going on, but she was just so embarrassed to admit that her relationship had failed. A part of her felt like it was her fault; that she'd done something wrong or that she hadn't kept JD interested enough and that was the reason why he strayed from their marriage. The other part just wanted to punch JD in his no good, lying, son-of-a-bitch, cheating face.

"How'd that go?" Tyra asked sarcastically in that thick southern drawl of hers, she'd been through enough breakups to know that taking to an ex sucked. It especially sucked when you've been in a relationship with the person as long as Julie and JD had been together. It's bound to make a conversion turn awkward very quickly.

"Worse than you'd think," Julie said with a snort before she continued, "he all the sudden decided he wants to keep my impressionist ballerina painting, even though I clearly specified it was one of the paintings that had to be included in my possessions during the divorce." Julie said, her eyes watery as she continued on, "I mean, he's already taken so much from me, half my life savings, my pride, my confidence, any chance of me being able to fully trust another man again. I gave him nine years of my life, _nine years,_ and he cheats on me?" Julie said in tears now. "Am I really that horrible that he felt the need to go find other women to be with."

"He cheated on you?" Tyra asked wide-eyed. She knew they'd been having problems, but Tyra always just assumed it was because they spent so much time apart with JD traveling a lot for work. Julie never mentioned anything about him cheating. Oh, if she could get her hands on the son-of-a-bitch; she'd show him what happens when you mess with her family.

"Yeah, we were already fighting because he'd been traveling so much, I guess that made him think it was okay to sleep with other women. I started to notice some strange charges on our account, flower shops, jewelers, lingerie stores, places like that. I thought one of our credit cards had been stolen because I hadn't bought any of those thing and JD certainly hadn't given me anything of the sort." Julie said as she wiped away her tears, that anger from earlier returning again. "I told him about it and he was reluctant to report it, I told him we had to and that we couldn't keep letting someone steal our money, he just told me it was "fine" that's all he ever said "it's fine." That set off some red flags, so I went through his phone one night when he was asleep. He had texts from another girl. Pictures. I confronted him about it and he said it was just a one-time thing, that it would never happen again . . . that he loved me. And the idiot that I am, I believed every word of it. That was seven months ago." Julie said.

"I had no idea. Julie, I'm so sorry he did that, but you deserve better; you don't need a guy that's gonna treat you like that. You deserve someone that's gonna be there for you and love you, that's not gonna stray away to the first slut that glances his way." Tyra said, she could kill JD. She really could. How dare he hurt her sister-in-law like this? Who does he think he is? "He's an ass and you're better off without him." Tyra added, "You know, I could always kick his ass for you; I'm still taller than him, and I'm sure I'm a hell of a lot stronger."

"No that's okay," Julie said with a laugh, "He doesn't even deserve that." She sighed taking a sip of her wine before looking back up at Tyra. "There's more to the story, though."

"More than that?" Tyra asked, Julie nodded. "Good Lord, what else could the boy do?" By the look on Julie's face when Tyra asked, she guessed there was a lot more he could do, and again, Tyra found herself wanted to knock his lights out.

 _Julie, along with the rest of the Taylor clan made their way up to Austin for the weekend to visit her Aunt Shelley. She asked JD to come with her, but he had just got back from a trip in Seattle, and claimed he just wanted to veg out for a bit. Julie was disappointed but she told him it was okay. She missed him; so, she said goodbye to Shelley a day earlier than planned, she wanted to surprise JD. He ended up being the one to surprise her, though._

" _JD?" Julie walked through the house, it was dark, but she knew he was home. She saw his stupid Maserati in the driveway._

 _She never did understand why guys would be willing to spend that much on a car. If a person was lucky, they could get away with keeping their car for maybe ten years before it finally bit the dust. That was the case with Julie's Toyota Celica, her little blueberry, as she fondly referred to it as. She had that car since she first got her driver's license, and she still had it to this day. But, unlike JD's, her car didn't cost nearly a hundred thousand dollars. But she wasn't about to complain seeing as they weren't the ones who paid for it. The McCoy's did. Julie never understood why, they rarely spoke to JD after he and Julie got married. Julie always felt like it might have been a bride, give JD a fancy car in hopes that he would leave Julie, they never liked her, or her family. Clearly it didn't work._

 _Julie walked up the stairs, thinking he may be asleep already. Their bedroom door was closed, but she could see soft light pouring out the crack of the door. Maybe he's reading, she thought. She opened the door. What she saw was definitely not reading . . . JD was laying on his back, a thin redhead on top of him. The sheets were covering their lower halves and, thankfully, the women's back was facing Julie, so she did have to see anything she didn't want to. That didn't stop the fact that what they were doing was so blatantly obvious, however._

" _J-Julie!" JD stuttered, noticing his wife's appearance. Julie shook herself of the shock and turned around, running down the stairs as quickly as she could. She needed to get out of there. JD practically threw the woman off him and threw on a pair of mesh shorts, running after his wife. By, the time he caught up to her, Julie had already made it outside._

" _Julie, wait!" He shouted. "I can explain!" At that Julie scoffed and turned around, wiping her tears. She'd never been so hurt in her life. She couldn't breathe as she felt her heart breaking into a million tiny little pieces._

" _Alright then explain." Julie choked out over a sob. JD stayed quiet for several moments, just looking down at his bare feet. "Explain!" Julie yelled. She couldn't take it, all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and sob. How could he do this to her? He assured her that whatever past relationship he had was over. Clearly, that had not been the case._

" _I-I didn't think you would be home until tomorrow," JD started, "Madison texted me that she was in town. I was going to end things, I swear."_

" _Are you being serious right now, JD!" Julie couldn't believe what she was hearing. He really expects her to believe that he was going to end things when she just caught him underneath her? He must've lost his mind. "The fact that you expect me to believe that officially makes you the dumbest person I've ever met, and the fact that you thought it would be okay just because I was out of town makes you the cruelest person I've ever met." Julie said taking in a deep shaky breath._

" _Julie I'm sorry, I just–" JD started, but Julie quickly cut him off, unable to listen to anymore of his lies._

" _I'm sorry too, but I don't appreciate getting lied to." Julie said getting in her car, with the engine on and the window down, she had one last thing to say before she left, something that she hoped would sit in the back of his mind for years to come. "I hope she was worth it."_

"I found out about a month after that, when we first started working out the terms of our divorce that she wasn't the only woman he'd been with during the duration of our marriage. Apparently, there were many." Julie said as she let out a bitter laugh. "I can't believe I'm only twenty-four years old and about to become a divorcee."

Tyra was at a loss for words. What did one say to someone after that? Simply expressing sympathy wouldn't suffice. Kicking JD's ass would certainly make Tyra feel a hell of a lot better, but she knew that's not what Julie needed right now. "You want to watch a movie?" Tyra asked somewhat awkwardly, causing Julie to laugh, a real laugh, not one of those fake ones she'd been giving out in spades lately. She loved the fact that even if Tyra didn't know what to do, she did understand that Julie didn't want to spend any more time on the previous discussion. It was part of the reason she and Tyra had become such good friends in the first place, despite the four, almost five, year age gap between the two.

"A movie sounds great."

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Tyra walked into her house a few hours later, careful to be quiet and not wake up the kids. There was a dull light coming from the living room, she assumed Jason and Tim were probably still going over game types, but what she saw instead was almost comical. The two were watching a rerun of Oprah, and both actually seemed genuinely interested in whatever was being said.

"So this is what you do when I'm not home?" Tyra asked with a laugh. Jason and Tim snapped their heads in the direction of Tyra's voice and Jason quickly flipped back to the game tapes they had been watching earlier. Both looked bashful at having been caught watching a show that was aimed more towards women than men. "Thank you for putting the kids to bed." Tyra said, letting them off the hook, but they knew there would be teasing in the future, and knowing Tyra, she'd wait until they were in a public setting to do so.

"How did things go with Jules? She doing alright?" Jason asked. He hoped she had talked to Tyra about what was going on. He'd love to know himself, but she seemed pretty intent on not talking to him at the moment, and he could live with that, as long as he knew that she was at least talking to someone.

"She's doing about as well as could be expected." Tyra said, then with a huff and a shake of her head added, "That JD's a real piece of work, though. If I were her I'd make sure I got everything out of that divorce. She's too nice for her own good." Tyra hated that JD could just get away with cheating on Julie and still end up with so much more in the divorce, and here he was trying to keep something that held no meaning to himself – but meant so much to Julie – from her. And for what? What did he get out of doing this to her? Was he just trying to make her angry? Tyra didn't get it.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, "What'd he do?"

"He didn't hurt her, did he?" Tim jumped in with his own question. He swore to God, if JD laid a hand on her . . . He'd show the asshole what hurt really meant.

"Physically? No . . . But, he's definitely done a number on her self-esteem." Tyra said. She felt wrong for even telling them as much as she had, Julie didn't ask her not to tell anyone about what happened, but she knew Julie would want to tell her brother on her own terms. "I really shouldn't say anything more. She'll tell you when she's ready." Tyra said, directing that last part as Jason. "Just give her some time."

"Yeah, but who knows how long it'll take for her to talk to me. She's managed to go three months without doing so, and not because of lack of effort on my part." Jason said. He just wanted to know what was going on with his baby sister. He deserved to know. "I'd also like to know if I need to kick a scrawny, wannabe, still thinks he's better than me, former QB's ass." He added, the annoyance at the younger man evident in his voice.

"I, for one, am with Six on this one." Tim said in that lazy drawl of his, but Tyra wasn't fooled, she could hear the slight edge in his voice. Which came as a surprise to her; that he would be so protective of Julie, even after all these years, when he hadn't seen, or even spoken to her in years. She didn't say anything though, that was another conversation for another time. "What did he do, and is it worthy of an ass beating?" He asked as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

"I'm sticking with my guns on letting Julie tell you herself. That being said, it's totally worthy of an ass beating." Tyra said with a sigh. She hated JD! "Honestly, I was tempted to leave and go kick his ass myself after she told me what happened."

Tim and Jason looked at each other. It was that bad? Jason made a mental note to talk to his sister as soon as possible, maybe now that she's told Tyra, she'll feel inclined to tell him as well.

All Tim could think about was that JD better have a good doctor, because once he and Jay were done with him, he'd need one. Tim had known Julie most of his life, in a way she was like a little sister to him too, so in a way, it was his job to protect her – at least, that's what he told himself.

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A week later . . .

Julie sighed as she circled the big red D- on the top of the most recent quiz on "Of Mice and Men." She read the name on the top of the paper. Luke Cafferty. With a frown, she added it to the three other quizzes she had set aside earlier. After grading the last of the quizzes, she grabbed the small pile and made her way to the football field.

"Jay, could I talk to you for a second?" Julie asked once Jason had a free moment. He nodded and followed her over to the bleachers, out of earshot of the other coaches and players. "So, I was grading yesterday's quiz for my junior English class . . . Four of your players are officially failing my class now, Jay." Julie said handing the quizzes over to her brother so he could see for himself.

"Of course it just happens to be four of my best players." Jason said with a sigh as he read the names on the quizzes. Luke Cafferty, Vince Howard, Santiago Herrera, and Buddy Jr. This wasn't the first time he's had to talk to these players either, he dealt with a very similar situation last year. "I'll talk to them."

"I don't know that just talking to them is gonna cut it. Luke and Vince both need at least a B on the paper I'll be assigning next week if they want to play, Santiago and Buddy Jr. need a C." Julie said, she looked out at the field and saw the four players in question looking her way, they knew what was coming. And if this year was anything like last year, they'd manage to pass, but just barely. Julie didn't want that this year. She wanted them to learn something from her class. She didn't want them to constantly be worried about whether or not they'd be cut from the team because their grades were too poor. They were all such smart kids. They just needed to apply themselves more. Julie glanced out towards the field again and noticed another pair of eyes glancing her way, a pair of eyes that belonged to a now very famous fullback. He was still as ridiculously handsome as she remembered. He also still carried that "player" vibe and look all over his features. She guessed somethings just never changed. Although, something that did change was the way he was looking at her, almost as though he were leering. That was definitely something she'd never experienced, she'd seen him look at plenty of other women that way, but that look had never been directed at her before. And, oh god, he's making his way towards her . . .

"What's going on?" Tim asked walking up to the pair. The woman standing in front of him looked so familiar, he wished he could place a name to go with the face. The very beautiful face, he noticed. Tim looked at Jason who handed him the papers. Tim shrugged as he looked down at the papers. So, a few students got a bad grade on a quiz, what'd that have to do with Six?

"I was just being told that four of my players are failing her class and that they need at least a B on their next assignment to play." Jason filled Tim in on the details, gesturing towards Julie as he did. Tim looked confused as he looked between Jason and the teacher.

"So, what's the problem? Just give them the B." Tim said as he handed the papers back to the teacher, who scoffed as she took them from his hand.

"Of course you of all people would say that." Julie said with an eye roll. Somethings never changed, apparently. Tim always thought he was entitled to whatever he wanted back when he and Jason were in high school, just because he played football. If she had to guess, she'd say that entitlement's only grown since he went pro. And now he expects her to just give somebody a grade they didn't earn because they threw a ball around a field and knew how to tackle? Well, he had another thing coming. "I don't give students grades they haven't earned, I grade everyone fairly. If these boys want to continue to play football, they're going to have to earn a B on the upcoming essay on "Of Mice and Men" and _they_ have to be the ones to do the work." Julie said sending Tim a pointed look. She remembered all the times he let rally girls do his homework; she also remembered all the teachers letting it slide, even though they knew he hadn't done the work. She would never be one of those teachers, she refused to stoop that low over a sport.

"Uh, I'm sorry, but where do you get off acting like you know me?" Tim asked as he looked at the feisty blonde in front of him. He loved a good argument, but who the hell did this chick think she was? She didn't know him. Maybe she'd read some stuff about him in the tabloids, but that didn't make it true.

"Seriously, Tim, I've known you since I was like, three years old." Julie said. Then she scoffed upon realizing he didn't even recognize her. She saw the moment Tim realized just who she was, his eyes got wider than she ever thought possible and the frown previously occupying his face was exchanged with a surprised smirk. Seems like the only thing he knew how to do was frown and smirk. In all the years Julie has known Tim, she hasn't seen him make any other facial expressions, at least not very often. She'd only ever seen him smile, like a real smile, maybe four times in her whole life. When he got accepted into UT Austin on a scholarship, when he graduated high school, when he got signed to the Cowboys, and in a picture of him and Jason at Jason and Tyra's wedding.

"What? Baby Taylor?" Tim looked at Jason for confirmation. He nodded. Tim couldn't believe this young woman standing in front of him was Julie Taylor. She seemed so different then he remembered. She wasn't the same bubbly, awkward girl that used to talk his ear off about anything and everything she could think of, tease him at any opportunity she got, or force him and Jason to take her and her friends out so she could show everyone that she had "the cool brother" with the hot friend – at least that's what he always remembered them all whispering about.

"It's actually McCoy now." Julie corrected, despite that fact that it stung just thinking about the last name and the day she took it. She and JD still hadn't worked out the agreements of their divorce; he was still refusing to give her the painting he had originally promised would be a part of her possessions. For the first time, she found herself wishing she hadn't opened her big mouth because she didn't want to be a McCoy, she wanted to go back to being a Taylor and act like this whole stupid marriage never happened.

"Not for much longer, I hear." Tim quipped. Jason looked over at his friend in absolute shock, he couldn't believe he'd just said that. Meanwhile, Julie looked at Jason equally shocked, only her eyes also held hurt in them.

"You told him?" She asked. How could he share the most private part of her life with someone, without discussing it with her first? She understood that Tim is his best friend, but that didn't give him the right to go around sharing intimate details of Julie's personal life. It wasn't any of Tim's business, and frankly, it wasn't Jason's either. "Did you tell him why we were getting the divorce too?" Julie asked angrily.

"He was there when Tyra got your phone call a couple weeks ago." Jason started. "And I don't even know why you two are getting a divorce, so how would I possibly tell him?" Jason retorted. He got that Julie was going through a lot right now, but that didn't make it okay for her to be angry and rude towards those around her, especially when they were just trying to help.

"Tyra didn't tell you?" Julie asked, surprised. Although, she doesn't know why, she knows Tyra would never share anything Julie didn't want her to, unless she thought it could be potentially harmful. But she had to admit, a part of her was hoping Tyra would tell Jason what happened just so she could avoid further embarrassment by telling her happily married, _older_ brother that she's getting a divorce because her husband cheated on her.

"She told me it was something you needed to tell me yourself." Jason said, as though it were obvious, and to Julie, it was. It sounded exactly like something Tyra would say. She looked at Tim as though to shoo him. He didn't get the memo and stayed rooted in place.

"Can I have a moment alone with my brother?" Julie asked slowly, since clearly looks weren't enough to get rid of the jerk fullback, maybe her words would be. Tim appeared to ignore her and looked over at Jason, who nodded. She scoffed when he finally started to walk away. "What was that all about, he needs your permission before he can do anything now?"

"He was just making sure he didn't need to get me out of anything." Jason said, upon Julie's confused look he continued, "It's guy code, you basically gave me the equivalency of "we need to talk" and you're a woman, it doesn't matter what our relation is, it's the best friend's job to make sure that he got me out of the situation if I didn't want to talk to you." Jason said casually, once again, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. This time, it was not.

"That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard . . . no offense." Julie said with a slight chuckle. As much as guys complain about how they'll never understand women, it's clear to her today that that's a two-way street, because she is quite positive she'll never understand men either.

"None taken." Jason said. "So what's so important that you couldn't say it in front of Tim?" He asked.

"I want to tell you why JD and I are getting a divorce, and I really don't want to share those details in front of Tim. He may be your friend, but he certainly isn't mine." Julie said, but then a thought occurred to her. "Just, promise me you would go all "overprotective big brother" on me." She added in a pleading tone.

"I promise."

"The reason JD and I are getting a divorce is because–" Julie took a deep breath. She knew it would be hard to tell him, but she didn't realize it would be this hard. How is she supposed to tell her parents if she can't even tell her brother? Hell, they don't even know she and JD are getting a divorce, yet. "We're getting a divorce because I caught JD cheating on me." There, she said it. It was hard, and she had to do it in one quick breath because she knew if she stopped to breathe again she'd never tell him, but she did it. That was all that mattered. She looked up at Jason, he had a very unreadable expression on his face, it almost looked blank, but Julie knew there was something going on underneath the surface.

"He what?" Jason finally asked through gritted teeth. Oh, god, this was what she was hoping to avoid, he had his uncanny "Coach T" voice on, he sounded so much like their dad in that moment it was scary. Julie didn't respond to his question, she knew he had heard her the first time, but that didn't stop him from asking the question again. "He what?"

"Please don't make me say it again, Jason. It was hard enough the first time." Julie pleaded, using his full name instead of his nickname, letting him know she wasn't playing around.

"Hey, Coach, you planning to do your job anytime soon, or should we just call it quits for today?" One of the players yelled in his direction.

"Hey. Shut the hell up and back on the field, kid." Jason heard Tim yell a moment later. "He's busy."

"I should get back to practice." Jason said, his voice like steel as he spoke. "But, don't think we're done talking about this, there's a lot that needs to be explained." He added as he made his way towards the field, ready to grill whichever asshole decided to interrupt his conversation.

Julie sighed as she watched her brother return to the field and yell at the player that gave him a hard time, making him run a few laps around the field while the other players ran through drills. She really didn't want to talk to Jason about this; she didn't want to talk to anyone about it. She just wanted to wallow for a bit and then go back to pretending like nothing happened. Why couldn't everyone just let her do that? Why does she have to deal with her feelings? Would it really accomplish anything? She looked back out onto the field and, once again, noticed the eyes of a certain fullback looking in her direction. Only this time, his soulful eyes held confusion as he squinted at her, almost as though he were trying to read her. _Good luck,_ she thought. She's about as closed off as they come these days.

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You made it to the end of chapter two! I know this one was pretty angst filled, but I just wanted you all to get an insight on what was going on with Julie and how she's been feeling. It'll get better, she'll start to feel less depressed, but you'll continue to see that anger for a while, though. I'm sorry the Julie and Tim exchange was fairly brief. I wanted to start off with him being a jerk because, for some reason, I just felt like that's what he would do. It's going to take a long while for the Tim/Julie relationship to blossom, so just stick with me on that. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, be sure to tell me your thoughts in a review or pm about what you liked and didn't like, as well as anything you'd like to see in upcoming chapters. Next chapter we'll finally get to see Eric and Tami, as well as Tim's first PeeWee practice. And of course, as always, don't forget to review, follow, and favorite!


	3. Chapter 3

I want to apologize for taking so long to update this story, I know I have a tendency of saying that a lot, those of you that also read my story Unexpected Changes are well aware of that. I originally started working on this chapter in the beginning of November, but then I was dealing with some very bad anxiety. I got myself together just in time to panic about my first experience with college finals in mid-December! :/ After all that, I just needed some time to unwind before I even thought about writing a new chapter. But, I'm back and I hope to have another chapter for this story up very soon, as well as the next chapter of Unexpected Changes. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I truly enjoyed writing this one.

Worth the Fight

Chapter 3: Remembering is Hard, Forgetting is Worse

 _Tim ran his tongue along the collarbone of the blonde draped across him. Smash and the rest of the players were long gone by now and at this point, Tim was well past drunk. He knew he probably wouldn't remember much of what happened come morning, but he didn't care. All he cared about was that, right now, he felt good. He didn't have to worry about practices or game plans, he didn't have anyone breathing down his neck waiting for his next mistake; he was free. He had a sexy woman wrapped around him that he knew was just dying to come home with him tonight; things were good._ _Were_ _, being the operative word._

" _Hey what the hell do you think you're doing?" A guy asked pulling Tim away from the blonde, who was desperately trying to shove her tongue down his throat. He wasn't complaining. A girl that hot could do whatever she wanted to him. But this guy was killing his buzz. He turned around to face the man, almost laughing. He was maybe 5'9," 5'10" tops and probably only around a buck eighty from what Tim could tell. He could take this guy on in his sleep._

" _You got a problem, man?" Tim asked standing up to face the guy. He towered over the other man, so much so that he needed to look down to properly look at the guy's face, but he didn't seem to be backing down. Tim had to give him props for that. Not a lot of people were willing to fight Tim because they knew who he was, what he did for a living, and on the odd occasion they didn't know who he was, they usually backed down once they saw his size._

" _Yeah, you were just making out with my fiancé." The guy said, attempting to look intimidating by getting in Tim's face. Tim turned around to look at the woman and looked at her left hand, and sure enough, there was a ring on her finger, a very nice ring, in fact. Tim just shrugged, looked back at the man, and laughed._

" _I guess you're not giving her what she needs then, seeing as she's here with me instead of at home with you." Tim said casually, not even caring that he could have just ruined someone's marriage. It's not like it would be the first time. Plus, it's not like it was his own marriage – not that he would ever get married – so what did it matter to him? He turned back around to look at the blonde again, she looked sheepish now that her fiancé was here. "So what is it, blondie?" Tim asked, using a nickname because he was too drunk to remember what her actual name was. Something with an 'S' maybe? "He doesn't give it to you the way you like it? Or you just saw "Tim Riggins" and had to have a taste?" He asked the last part bitterly. Although, he's not sure why he's so bitter about it. He's been with many women before simply because they wanted to spend a night with the football star, and he never complained because it's given him many warm bodies to lie next to at night._

 _Before Tim could dwell any longer on why it suddenly bothered him that women only want to be with him because of his celebrity status, the guy turned him around and sucker punched him. For such a small guy, he had a pretty mean right hook, Tim thought. If he weren't so drunk, it might have even hurt a bit. Tim just rubbed his jaw and chuckled as he straightened. He grabbed the guy by the collar of his shirt and looked him in the eye, letting him know what was coming, he's not about to be a little bitch and sucker punch the guy like he just was. And he wanted him to know that. Tim swung his arm back and threw it forward, connecting with the guy's face with a sickening crunch. He was sure he broke the man's nose, but that didn't stop him from throwing another punch, and then another. He didn't stop. Not until his knuckles felt raw and were bloody from the other man's wounds, and blondie was screaming at him to stop._

 _He stormed out of the bar after that. He was angry; he wasn't sure why, but he was and that fight had only added fuel to the fire. He was itching for another. He walked towards his truck, completely ignoring Smash's early words of wisdom to take a cab, and drove away in a frenzy of screeching tires. Where he was going? He had no clue. He just knew he needed to get away from everything. He just wanted some peace and quiet._

Tim awoke with a start. He was sweating, the sheets clinging to his naked chest. He remembered. Well, something at least. He still couldn't remember what happened after that moment. He knew enough because it was all over the press. There was an accident. He was the cause of it. He almost killed a man. He didn't even know that man's name. Tim looked over at the clock, 4:30 AM. He groaned and threw a pillow over his head, he just wanted one good night's sleep. He hasn't been able to get a full night's sleep since the accident, memories of what happened kept plaguing his unconscious moments at every opportunity. Only in bits and pieces, though. He wished he could remember what happened, even if just so he could get one solid night's rest.

Knowing there was no chance of getting back to sleep, Tim got up. After going to the bathroom to splash some water on his face and brush his teeth he came back into his bedroom and dug through his suitcase for some workout gear. He still hadn't unpacked. He didn't want to, if he did, it would make things seem permanent. He had already rented an apartment, that was permanent enough for him for now. It wasn't the nicest place, just a one bedroom in a dingy complex in East Dillon. He could definitely afford something nicer, but all the other month-to-month lease places he looked at were too . . . "frou-frou" for his tastes. _Guess that's what happens when booster wives get bored,_ he thought. He quickly changed into the workout clothes he'd picked out, just a pair of black mesh shorts, a Dillon panthers t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and a pair of Nike running shoes. He grabbed his phone and a pair of headphones and was out the door. If he couldn't sleep his thoughts away, maybe he could work them away? It was a longshot, but at this point, he would try anything.

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Julie sat across from Jason in her classroom the next day at lunch. He stared at her as she ate her spicy chicken burger. She was hoping to avoid talking to Jason, she even left school to get her lunch today, rather than bringing it from home like she normally would. Usually, if Jason stopped by her classroom and she wasn't there, he would just leave and come back another time; that's how she's managed to avoid him for so long. But today, today he waited for her. When she got back and walked into her classroom, he was there, sitting at her desk with his food, just . . . waiting. Julie knew then that there was no more avoiding him; he would just keep coming back. So, she sat down across from him and ate her sandwich with her head down, attempting to pretend he wasn't there, which was proving difficult with his eyes drilling a hole into the top of her head.

"Jules." Jason said firmly, effectively getting her to look up at him. "We need to talk about this, you can't just keep avoiding it." He said. Julie sighed. Why couldn't he just understand she that couldn't talk about it, she didn't _want_ to talk about it, at least, not with him. He wouldn't understand. He's never been cheated on. He has a wife and two beautiful children that are his own world.

"If we talk about it . . . if I tell you what happened . . . will you back off." Julie said, finally just saying what she was feeling. She was tired of him breathing down her neck, trying to force her talk about her feelings, forcing her to talk about the one person she just wanted to forget.

"I can't promise that, Jules. It's my job to look out for you. JD clearly hurt you and I'm truly sorry for that. But, you can't keep shutting out the people that care about you. It won't help." Jason said sincerely. Julie looked at him with slumped shoulders, she knew he was right. It was just so hard. She knew he would be mad, that he would probably want to go have a "chat" with JD, but that's not what Julie wanted. As mad as she was at JD, she didn't want everyone attacking him. She just wanted to be able to move on. She can't do that if people are constantly bringing him up.

"Alright, I'll tell you." Julie finally said. If the only way to get him to stop asking was to tell him, then she would do just that.

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Julie told Jason everything she told Tyra, minus walking in on JD, figuring that little part was best left out. He let her talk, not interrupting once the entire time, something Julie was quite thankful for. She imagined he had a lot to say, but as she looked at him, sitting across her desk, she wasn't so sure. He had that blank expression on his face again, covering up whatever emotion he was really feeling, making it hard for Julie to know what to say or do next.

"Say something, please." Julie finally said. She'd take anything, even him telling her the divorce was her fault, over him not saying anything at all. She just . . . she needed to know what he was thinking.

"I could kill JD." Jason said through gritted teeth as he stood up and paced the room. Julie knew now. He was angry. Not only was it evident in his tone, but he was finally letting it show on his face and body. He paced back and forth, hands clenched into fists at his sides, jaw clenched so hard she thought it might break under the pressure. It truly amazed her just how much he looked like their dad when he was angry, normally he showed his emotions more like their mom. But when it came to his anger? He was Eric Taylor to a T. "He thinks he can just treat you like this and get away with it?"

"It's more complicated that it seems, Jay. We haven't been happy for a long time, something like this was bound to happen eventually." Julie said, trying to justify the situation, thinking it might help him calm down a bit. It didn't. In fact, it only seemed to make him angrier as he stopped pacing and whipped his head in Julie's direction.

"Are you being serious right now, Julie? How can you just sit there and defend him?" Jason asked. "Tyra's right, you are too nice for your own good." Jason said with a sigh, calming down as he looked, really looked, at his sister. She looked exhausted, both mentally and physically, and she looked sad. He could tell just by looking at her that she wasn't dealing with this, at least not in a healthy way. Knowing his sister, she's just been bottling everything down. She probably hadn't even cried yet. She always tried to be stoic in bad situations; she didn't cry when their dad got sick, she was the rock while everyone else fell apart around her. She was the one to pick up the pieces. Jason always regretted that; he was the oldest, that was supposed to be his job, not his baby sister's. He shouldn't be yelling at her right now. That's not what she needed. She needed someone to finally be her rock; she deserved it after having to be everyone else's for so many years. "Come here." Jason sighed extending his arms out to her.

Julie walked towards him and accepted his embrace. Jason wrapped his arms around Julie and rubbed her back soothingly, he didn't say anything, he didn't need to. He just needed to show her that he would be there for her. Julie hadn't realized just how much a simple embrace could make her feel, how much comfort it could provide. She let a sob, a loud, ugly sob. One she would probably be embarrassed about later, but right now she couldn't find it in her to care as Jason squeezed her tighter and let her cry openly onto his shoulder.

"I just want it to stop hurting." Julie said through her sobs, hiccupping every other word. "I j-just want to forget." She cried. But she couldn't, she'd never forget what JD did. The image would forever be burned in her brain.

"I know, Jules, I know."

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"So, I heard from Corrina, who heard from Angela, that Tim Riggins is back in town. Did you know anything about this?" Tami asked Eric, who was currently sitting across from her looking at the Applebee's menu, despite the fact that they eat there once every other week and he probably had every item memorized by now. Not that it mattered, seeing as he order the same thing. Every. Single. Time.

"Yeah, I knew." Eric said, peaking at Tami over the menu. He chose not to tell her because he knew she would make a big deal about it. She'd tell Eric that they needed to invite him over for dinner, see how he had been doing, ask what it's like playing for the Cowboys, find out if he's got anyone 'special' in his life. All that jazz. Eric, spending most of his retired days watching SportsCenter and trying to take over his son's practices, already knew how the boy was doing. And he for one, wouldn't imagine Tim wanting to come visit and share all his problems with his former high school guidance counselor and football coach. Granted, they were much more than that, Tim was like family to the Taylor's, he knew that – hell, everyone in Dillon knew that – but Eric knows Tim . . . he's not one for all that "feelings" talking like Tami is.

"And you didn't tell me? What the hell, hon?" Tami asked, taking Eric's damn menu from him, he knows she hates it when it tries to avoid eye contact. "Well, we've got to invite him over for dinner, see how he's been doing. We haven't seen the man since Julie's wedding, I'm sure he's got a lot to catch us up on." Tami said eagerly. "We could make a family night of it, invite over the kids, tell Jason and Tyra to bring those beautiful grandbabies of ours." She loved getting the family together, forcing her children to come over to the house for family dinners once a month was not enough. Sure, she saw them much more than that, they would pop by and visit, or she would visit them, but they don't sit down and talk like they used too and she never usually gets to see both her children at the same time. Plus, she's been meaning to talk to Julie, she's missed the last three family dinners and every time Tami stops by to check on her, she's conveniently not home. JD kept telling Tami he should try to call her, that she's been working a lot, but she won't answer Tami's calls either. Maybe, she can get Jason to drag her to this month's dinner, which was quickly approaching.

"You see, Tams, this is exactly why I didn't tell you. I knew you would do this." Eric said with a sigh. "Do you know why Tim's back in town?" He asked, at Tami's shake of her head, he continued, "He got suspended from the team, indefinitely, because he was driving drunk and got in an accident. It's all over SportsCenter and EPSN. I wouldn't be surprised if it's also been on those gossip shows you claim you don't watch, but we both know you do." He said giving her a pointed look.

"I didn't know. Is he alright? Was anyone hurt?" Tami asked concerned, ignoring Eric's little quip about the gossip channels. It was a guilty pleasure! Everyone's allowed to have one. Now all she cared about was knowing what was going on with Tim. He's done some reckless things in the past, but never anything this stupid, especially with so much at stake – with his career at stake. All the boy has ever wanted to do is play football, she can't believe he would throw all that away over something as stupid as driving drunk.

"He's fine, as far as I know; walked away with a few minor injuries. There was another man involved in the accident, older man, he was seriously injured. Don't know how badly, that's been kept pretty under wraps, probably the NFL trying to protect their image, and Tim's too, for that matter." Eric said with a shake of his head. He had a lot to say to Tim. Starting with "what the hell were you thinking?" but he hasn't brought himself to go see the man, yet. He doesn't want to yell at him, he's a grown ass man, that's not what he needs anymore. He wants to just sit down and have a chat about what's been going on, but right now, he's not capable of talking to him without letting his frustrations show.

"Well, in that case, we definitely need to have him over for dinner. We'll still invite over the kids, that way he doesn't feel like he's being ambushed, we can talk to him after dinner, maybe once everyone has left." Tami said gently. She hoped Tim was doing okay, this type of behavior wasn't like him. Not like the Tim she knew anyway. Maybe fame has changed him? If so, that's something she needed to find out for herself – from him, not from some stupid tabloids. "What do you say, Eric?" Tami asked a hopeful smile on her face.

"Alright, but if this all blows up . . . I will gladly throw you under the bus." Eric said with a sigh. He knew this would be happening with or without his consent. There was no saying no to Tami Taylor.

"Great, I'll call the kids later today then."

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Julie walked into Riggins' Rigs later that day to pick up her car. She's been without it for weeks, and taking the bus to work every day seriously sucked! Billy told her she needed to replace the old clunker ages ago and she knew he was right, she just couldn't bear to part with it. It was her first car after all . . . but now? Now she was stuck with the dreaded vehicle because she couldn't afford to buy a new one; she can't even afford to buy a used car right now. Has she mentioned how much she hates JD lately? Because she really does.

"Julie!" Billy said happily seeing her walk into the, now, quite large, auto repair shop. "I just sent Danny to bring your car 'round front. Should only take a moment." He told her breaking her away from her earlier thoughts of negativity.

She's grown really close to the Riggins family over the past couple of years, she saw them occasionally through Tyra, but it wasn't until they asked her to babysit their kids one day that they really started to hit it off. As it turned out she and Mindy actually had a lot in common, they read a lot of the same books, like the same television shows, love giving Billy hell. You know little things. Aside from that, Billy's been keeping her little Celica running for the past year or so, and free of charge, despite Julie's refusal. He would always just say "you put up with my kids . . . I owe you."

"Thanks, Billy. How much do I owe you?" Julie asked, she knows he won't let her pay, but she always feels so guilty that he doesn't. He has a business that needs to say afloat and a wife and kids at home that need to say fed. Granted, he's pretty well off, no longer is he struggling to make ends meet. Riggins' Rigs has been doing great for years now. Billy even expanded his shop and hired new workers just last year. Julie always suspected it might be because of the last name on the shop, but she never brought it up. Billy's relationship with his famous brother always seemed to be a sore spot.

"Julie . . . how many times do I have to tell you it's on the house? You watch Stevie and the twins when Mindy and I ask and you never let us pay you, consider this my way of paying you." Billy said. He knew his kids were a handful, they had that Collette snark with a Riggins' attitude. He could barely handle them half the time. So, for Julie to watch them as often as she does, he felt he owed her and if fixing her car pro bono was the only way she'd let him pay her than he'd do it with a damn grin on his face.

Julie conceded with a huff and followed Billy out to the front entrance when they saw her car pull up. "Now, I did what I could and I know you don't want to hear this, but it's time to trade the little blueberry in. She's eating up your gas and at this point she costs more to fix than what she's worth." Billy said blatantly, he gave her the same speech the last time she brought in her car a few months ago. As much as he knew she hated the idea, she really did need a new car.

"It's not that I don't want to hear it . . . Yeah, I will be sad to see her go, I mean she was my first car after all. I just can't afford to replace it right now. Maybe later down the line, but it's just not in my budget." Julie said sadly, she didn't know why she shared that with Billy, they don't talk money, their conversations only ever consisted of his kids and light banter. They never delve into serious conversations. She doesn't remember ever having a serious conversation with Mindy either, come to think of it.

"Everything alright?" Billy asked looking at her suspiciously. Last he checked, she and that stick-up-his-ass husband of hers were doing pretty well, they weren't rich by any means, but they had enough to take care of themselves. JD's parents, on the other hand, were very rich. If Billy had to guess; he'd say they were the richest family in Dillon. Even if she and JD couldn't afford to replace her car, his parents definitely could. Or, JD could sell that expensive douche-y car of his and buy something more practical for himself and still have plenty leftover to replace Julie's car.

"Everything's fine." Julie said avoiding eye contact and cursing herself for saying anything. She really hoped he didn't ask about JD. She couldn't handle another conversation with JD as the subject, she'd never be able to move on if people, herself included, kept bringing him up.

Julie could tell by the look on Billy's face that he knew she was lying, but he didn't question her about it. He didn't ask what was going on, or why she was lying. He didn't ask about JD. He just stared at her for a moment. He wasn't scrutinizing her, trying to read her. Seemed like a lot of people have been trying to do that lately – first Jason and Tyra, then Tim, now Billy – eventually they're all going to realize there's nothing to read . . . She's still keeping so much from everyone, but it doesn't show on her face anymore. She's hollowed out at this point. So, what she heard next from Billy, something so kind, so unexpected, it made her feel just a little less hollow inside.

"You know it's not much, but if you need to you could always use Tim's old truck until you can replace the Celica. It's not much, and truthfully, it isn't much better than what you're driving now, but she's sturdy. She eats gas like crazy, but she'll always get you from point A to point B, and safely. Which is something I'm not sure that little blueberry is capable of doing anymore." Billy said with a nod in the direction of Julie's car. With a sigh, he continued, "And it doesn't seem like Tim hasn't any intention of picking it up anytime soon. I always kept the thing around, made sure she was in tiptop shape so he'd have something to drive when he came to visit. But, the damn boy hasn't even come by the house once since he's been in town. He stayed with Jason and Tyra his first night in town and by the second night he already had himself an apartment." Billy said with a huff.

Julie felt bad for the guy. Aside from his kids and Mindy, all Billy ever talked about was Tim. He was so proud of his little brother; of all he's managed to accomplish. She didn't know all the details, and she didn't need to, but she knew the two had issues. She remembered that Tim rarely ever spoke of his older brother, and when he did, it was usually negative. She couldn't relate to that, she loved her family and would do anything for them, and despite the fact that she's been avoiding them lately, she knew they would do anything for her. And to picture her life without her family . . . she couldn't even imagine what that life would be like. Standing there, looking at Billy as he looked off into the distance, Julie felt his pain. She knew all he wanted was to mend fences with his brother, but she also knew Tim was stubborn. Too damn stubborn to make the effort to do the same.

"Billy?" Julie said, getting his attention. He looked at her quizzically.

"Yeah?"

"You're a good guy." She said and then gave him a hug, despite his shock, he hugged her back. It was nothing more than a friendly brief hug but, Julie felt it was needed in that moment. And based on the small smile on Billy's face when she pulled away, she had to figure that she was right. She just couldn't shake this feeling that she needed to help him mend his relationship with Tim. She didn't know why, or how she even could help. She and Tim weren't friends, and if it weren't for the fact that he was best friends with her brother, she doubted the they would have ever associated, but she was going to find a way to make it happen. She was gonna help Billy get his brother back.

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"Hello?"

"Julie thank God!" Tyra breathed a sigh of relief into the phone upon hearing the younger woman answer. "I know you're still without a car, but is there any way you can pick up Kinley from daycare and Noah from peewee practice? There's an emergency at the bar I have to take care of and I've tried calling everyone . . . nobody's answering and Jason's still at work. I even tried calling Tim to see if he could just drop Noah off at the field with Jason, but trying to get that damn boy to answer a phone is like trying to get Noah to eat his veggies." Tyra said with a nervous laugh. She hated asking Julie to go out of her way like this, but she didn't really have any options at the moment.

"Tyra, breathe." Julie said with a small chuckle. "Of course, I'll pick up the kids! It's really not a big deal, I even picked up the little blueberry today, so I'm not without a car. I'd love to see my niece and nephew, anyway. It's been way too long since I've sent some time with them." Julie counited. Tyra owns a bar and grill type restaurant. She actually bought Buddy Garrity's place from him when he decided he wanted to open another car dealership. With a bachelor's in business, Tyra was more than equip to keep the place afloat, but it was an old building and she's been having a lot of issues with it lately, so much so that she's been thinking about closing shop and reopening at a new location.

"Thank you so much Jules, you're a lifesaver! I gotta go, but I'll talk to you soon, alright?"

"Not a problem. Talk to you later." Julie said, and with that the two hung up and Julie headed out of her apartment to go pick up Kinley and Noah.

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By the time Julie picked up Kinley and drove out to the football field, practice was long over. Julie walked towards the field with Kinley attached to her hip when she saw Noah. He was talking to Tim, the peewee coach's back facing her. She smiled at Noah, who was talking animatedly to the fullback with the biggest toothy grin on his face. She couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance but knowing Noah, and Tim, she could only assume it was something football related. She watched as Noah moved his eyes away from Tim and in her direction, and if it was possible an even bigger smile broke out across his adorable face.

"Auntie Jules!" He shouted happily, running up to Julie and hugging as her legs. Julie smiled and hugged him with her free arm.

"Hey sweetie. How was your first practice?" She asked as she rubbed his head. The young boy continued to smile at her as spoke.

"It was awesome! Tim made me running back, just like Smash Williams . . . a-and he said I was the best player in the team!" Noah said, practically jumping up and down with joy.

"I'm sure there's no bias there, huh?" Julie joked, sending a smirk in Tim's direction. He just smirked back and openly checked her out. He had a habit of doing that lately, and it didn't go unnoticed by the blonde bombshell herself as her smirked dropped and turned into an annoyed eye roll. "I'm sorry about being late . . . that lady at daycare's front desk sure can talk." Julie said with a chuckle.

"It's no problem, Noah and I were just talking." Tim said casually, and added with a smirk, "And I am a little biased, but he really is the best player on the team."

"I wouldn't doubt it. Jason's had this boy learning football since before he even learned to walk." Julie said with a laugh as she pulled Noah closer to her. "You ready, kiddo?" Julie asked. Noah nodded and went to grabbed a small bag with his stuff in it over by the bleachers. He grabbed her hand when he came back and waited for her to lead the way to her car when Tim spoke up again.

"Hey, your mom called me today . . . something about wanting me to be at Saturday's family dinner. You know anything about that?" He asked. Julie turned around to look at the fullback, he looked worried, which could almost make Julie laugh. The idea of him being scared of her parents, her mother especially, was down right comical. But the Julie remembered what's been being said about him lately, about what he's done that's gotten him into trouble this time, and it made sense. He was scared about her parents being disappointed in him; they were the closest thing to parents he had, of course he wouldn't want to let them down.

"She has this big family dinner once a month. Jason, Tyra, and the kids come. JD and I . . . well, you know, before everything . . . we would go too. She just liked getting everyone together, she's even invited Billy and Mindy a few times." Julie said and noticed the way Tim's jaw tightened at the mention of his brother's name.

"You think Billy will be there?" Tim asked, praying the answer would be no. That would be just like Mrs. Taylor, though, trying to force the two together. She was all about family, after all. Julie just shrugged her shoulders and looked up at the fullback.

"Doubt it, he's only gone to one dinner, it went well. I just don't think it's his type of thing." She said causally. Tim snorted at the last part, though, causing Julie to squint at him. "I know it's not my place, and feel free to tell me to back off . . . but don't you think you should try to build a relationship with your brother? I know you and Jay are great friends and you consider him and my mom and dad family, but Billy's your blood. And, no offense, but he's the only person from your family I see trying to stay in touch and you just keep pushing him away." Julie said, she sincerely hoped she didn't hurt him by anything she said, she just didn't think it was fair for him to keep pushing away the only family he had left, at least the only one that chose to stick around anyway. Tim looked like he was going to tell her to fuck off and mind her own for a minute but then his expression changed and he suddenly had this lazy smirk as he looked at her.

"This coming from the girl who's been avoid _her_ family for months now?" Tim questioned his smirk widening into what could almost be called a smile when she blushed in embarrassment.

"Touché." Julie said with a breathy laugh, she hadn't even thought of her own situation. She probably looked like the biggest hypocrite. "In my defense, I don't harbor any ill feelings towards my family like you seem to with Billy. I just-I-I'm just trying to deal with some things right now. Things I don't think they would understand." Julie said solemnly because it was true, she really didn't feel like they, her parents especially, would understand. They grew up in the era where, if you had a problem, you worked it out; you didn't get a divorce.

"Things with JD?" Tim asked, although it was more of a statement based on the tone of his voice. She knew Tim already knew about her marital problems, at least to some extent. He knew she and JD were getting a divorce, but, as far as she knew, he still didn't know why. And she'd like to keep it that way. There's nothing more embarrassing then having people finding out your getting a divorce because your husband cheated on you. Julie knew she shouldn't be embarrassed, that JD should be the one feeling embarrassed, but that didn't change the fact that she felt like there was something wrong with her . . . That had to be it, right? You don't just cheat for no reason, it had to be something she did.

"Yeah." Julie stated plainly, hoping it sounded like she didn't have a care in the world and not like she was completely broken on the inside. Based on the look on Tim's face, tough, she knew he could see through her façade, so she did what she's been doing best lately, deflecting. "I know you and I aren't friends, but I am friends will Billy, so please tell me you'll at least _think_ about seeing him, or even just talking to him over the phone or something, while you're still in town." Julie begged as sweetly as she could, sending him her best puppy dog eyes. Tim grinned, actually _grinned_ , at her, not smirked, or did that half smile thing he does, he gave her an actual freaking grin. And boy, did it make her feel weak in the knees, not that she would ever admit that to herself.

"I'll tell you what . . . I'll go see Billy . . . if you promise to come to this family dinner thing at the Taylor's this weekend." Tim propositioned. Julie looked at him suspiciously, wondering what he was up to. He was grinning at her, and willing to see Billy, if she went to the dinner. What game was he playing?

"Hmmm – all I have to do is go to the dinner this weekend and you'll see Billy?" Julie questioned. It couldn't be that easy. Could it?

"Yep, that's it. Come on, you can't leave a poor guy like me alone with your parents. That's like dropping a slab of meat in shark infested waters. They'll eat me alive!" Tim said dramatically, causing Julie to laugh. She didn't realize the fullback actually had a sense of humor, she thought he was all one-sided, that he was just about playing football, drinking beer, and getting laid. But maybe she was wrong, maybe there was something more to Tim Riggins than the image he put out for the rest of the world to see. Maybe _he_ had his own façade up too.

"Well, then – in that case – how could I say no?" Julie said just as dramatically. "You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Tim Riggins." Julie said and held out her hand to seal the deal. Tim took her tiny hand in his much larger one and shook, holding it a little longer than he probably should have, but Julie didn't seem to be complaining.

"Uncle Timmy is coming to the family dinner? So cool! We can play after!" Noah said excitedly from behind Julie with a big toothy grin.

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Happy almost new year everyone! I don't know about y'all but this has been a very eventful year in my personal life, but also just in general, and unfortunately, not all events have been good ones. Hopefully, we'll see more positivity in the new year because Lord knows the world needs it right now . . . Anyway . . . I hoped everyone enjoyed chapter 3 of Worth the Fight! Be sure to tell me your thought on this chapter in a review or pm, as well as anything you'd like to see in upcoming chapters. Next chapter you'll see the Taylor's family dinner, as well as Tim's reunion with Billy. And of course, as always, don't forget to review, follow, and favorite!


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